Tropical delights

I love the hot season in Dar: this time of year when the abundance of fruit is stunning — it really is the season of tropical delights.

Along the road a fruit stall can emerge anytime.

After a small van has left a huge pile of pineapples of around 1.5 meters high, a guy will sell them for TZS 2,500 each.

After cutting and cleaning it will provide you with at least four generous bowls of lovely juicy fruit.

The sweetness and intensity of taste are unbelievable.

The sweetness and intensity of taste are unbelievable.

Along Old Bagamoyo Road there is a tikiti stretch: one after the other fruit stalls with only watermelons; you will find both the round, dark green variety and the oval shaped ones with a checkered skin of light and dark green stripes.

They’re always big — but mostly enormous!

Luckily the seller can help out with a panga and knife to cut you a more manageable piece.

The inside a beautiful shade of red with black pips that can be easily removed while eating.

Then the mangoes: just out of the city one can see large mango trees scattered everywhere completely filled with its green small size fruits.

They are sold in the villages per basket with up to 50-70 pieces for no more than TZS 3,000.

These are the smaller ones which are best eaten at the sink as its juices will run along hands and mouth from your first bite.

Usually they are sucked out to get all the juice and soft flesh.

The larger sized mangoes are sold from handcarts and bicycles all around town.

They are different in taste and at least as lovely.

Locals know all these varieties of mangoes, each with their own taste and names such as dodo, sindano and mawazo.

Watermelons and mangoes, just two of the reasons to love the hot season in Dar!

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